I LOVE TOWELS SO HARD!
I have a thing about towels. How they’re folded. How they’re presented. How they’re stored. It’s not super Aiming Low of me, but I find a million other ways to be mediocre, so forgive me. (See: the late 80s and my penchant for leaving the zipper on my acid washed jeans down. Hi, Snorks undies, hi.)
But towels. I like them a certain way. I even like folding them. No, no, laundry-folder. Don’t take this joy away from me. Let me fold the towels. I got this. (brushes shoulders off)
Here, a guide so you can love towels like I love towels:
Bath towels, also known as bath sheets, but don’t call them bath sheets, cause that’s stupid: large towels used for drying off after bathing or showering, but sweet Baby Moses, NOT for after swimming.
Hand towels: stored in the bathroom. Used for wiping hands after washing hands or after pretending to wash hands.
Face towels/wash cloths: itty bitty towels that are used for washing your face and/or body. But then they get soaked so you have to hang them to dry or throw them in the washer. They’re either really useful or a waste of time. I haven’t figured it out yet.
Dish towels: used for drying dishes and bedazzling your kitchen. You can have dish towels with pumpkins on it for Fall, reindeer for Christmas, and inebriated, scantily-clad girls for Mardi Gras. So great!
Paper towels: not made of cloth; not cozy; does not bring inexplicable joy into your life when you touch a body part with it. Useful for cleaning up spills and disposing severed body parts. SO I’M TOLD.
Show towels: yeah, I know. I don’t get it, either. Show towels. Apparently there is a category of towels that is displayed in the home and is only for guests. Usually, they’re hanging over a towel rod. The show bath towel first, then the show hand towel. Generally, these towels are decorative and nature, and sometimes have embroidered flowers on them. This is the only category of towels against which I firmly discriminate. Embroidery does not belong on towels. Or oversized t-shirts, for that matter. Or socks. If anything, embroidery is acceptable on a lace-edged handkerchief, which, after some arguing, could probably be considered a subset of towels.
I know. Lace-edged handkerchiefs. I’m such a baller.
Photo source: flickr/halofan943)
About Roo Ciambriello
I am staunchly against show towels, because seriously – who the heck am I trying to impress? I’d rather dazzle people with number of dirty dishes there are in my sink. Now THAT’S something to look at.
Twitter Name: JWMoxie
I’m hoping my pristinely folded towels will distract guests from realizing that I forgot to wear pants.
Twitter Name: NiceGirlNotes
None of my towels match. I said it. I have never, ever gone towel shopping. And my MIL gave us some super-sized bath sheets, and I am totally using them for swimming. I have no idea what else to do with them. They’re big enough to use as a burial shroud. Oh, hey….
Twitter Name: becomingcliche
{clutches pearls}
Twitter Name: NiceGirlNotes
I may not have been brought up right. We eat with our feet, too.
Twitter Name: becomingcliche
I have decorative towels in MY master bath. NOBODY SEES THEM, but me and my husband (and maybe a snoopy babysitter). I have no idea why I have done this.
I was totally a snoopy babysitter.
Twitter Name: NiceGirlNotes
I didn’t see your decorative towels. But come to think of it, I’m not even sure I’ve ever been in your master bathroom.
Twitter Name: Izzymom
How weird is that?
I hate wash cloths. Use them once and they smell. You just have to keep washing them. It’s so much better if we all have a scrubby sponge in our shower.
Twitter Name: HeatherSchiavo
I like the *idea* of washcloths. But it never works out, for your exact reasoning. Sad.
Twitter Name: NiceGirlNotes
Wash cloths are a waste. Take it from me. My kids do not know what they are. Which might lead to some embarrassing moments in the future, I guess.
Hahahaha, maybe. :P Stock ‘em up on lace-edge handkerchiefs.
Twitter Name: NiceGirlNotes
I’m all nerdy about folding towels too – bath sheets (that’s right, I said it) for the big people, regular sized for the Littles, and I like washcloths for showering… sucks that they need drying before tossing into the hamper though. (Poo.) And mine are all white so they look extra glorious all stacked up.
NO DECORATIVE towels. Those are just ugly dust collectors, as far as I’m concerned. And the only good embroidering is a single monogrammed letter in a modern font. That’s as far as I go with the “embellishments.” I’d cut a bitch who’d try and give me towels with lace edges. *shudders*
Ohh I love white towels, but I feel like they look so dirty so easily. What’s your secret?
Twitter Name: NiceGirlNotes
Tell me this, oh Towel Guru: Why do our bath sheets always end up with bleached-out spots on them? It’s happened to at least 3 different sets we’ve had, during which time we’ve had 2 different washer/dryer setups. Do we just need to keep getting more expensive towels? Or white ones?
Twitter Name: betadad
Does anyone in your house use acne medications (lotions or wash) and/or wrinkle creams or wash? They can contain Peroxide or certain types of acid which bleach the color out of fabric. If you leave it on overnight it can bleach your pillow cases too.
I know the problem. Are you using Clorox as body wash?
Twitter Name: NiceGirlNotes
This topic reminded me of something that has always bothered me. I hang two bath towels and two hand towels up in my bathrooms for drying hands. I buy nice towels specifically for this purpose and in my mind they are different from towels you use after a shower. I had in-laws stay over years back right after my first son was born, and whenever they took showers, instead of asking for towels, they used the towels hanging up… the towels everyone has used to dry their hands. I found this incredibly bizarre. Am I crazy or are they?
So you have bath towels hanging up for hand drying, and pull separate towels to use for after shower drying? We always had bath towels hanging up for after the bath/shower (on the towel bars within easy reach of the shower), and if we had a small towel bar near the sink, we might put out a bath-sized towel for hand drying. I’ve never known anyone who didn’t have bath towels for use after the bath hanging up.
Twitter Name: MamaKaren
Did you have towels available for them? If I don’t see any, I ask. If I hop in the shower before forgetting to ask, I use whatever’s available. Even if this means wiping my body down with toilet paper and getting little bits of tissue stuck all over me.
Twitter Name: NiceGirlNotes
I never got the chance to give them towels because they showered before I woke up (I was up all night with a newborn). They went into my half bathroom downstairs and took the towels hanging up in there.
There was no small bar in any of my bathrooms. Only a large bar. Maybe my mind just works differently.
My towels have to be folded a certain way, too. Two reasons: It’s the only way they’ll all fit in the linen closet and I’m a tad bit OCD. After 7 years, my husband finally gave up on trying to understand.
Glad to see I’m not the only person who despises “show towels.” They’re like that formal dining room and china set that you had to have but you’re too afraid of ruining.
If it’s not usable, it’s outta hurrrr.
Twitter Name: NiceGirlNotes
I LOVE nice towels but I never buy them because my family? Does NOT respect the towel.
Twitter Name: Izzymom
All of our wash cloths have blood stains on them because my children (specifically my 13 year old prone to nose bleeds) thinks that they are for the bleeding nose purpose, when I realize we have guests coming over I hit the dollar store up for some more bath scrunchies.
Twitter Name: DExtraordinaire